Joe Flacco comes to town Sunday, giving the Dolphins a close look at the kind of quarterback they hope Ryan Tannehill becomes.

But on paper, the triggerman Ryan Tannehill has actually resembled through 20 NFL games is not Flacco, but Chad Henne.

Skeptical? Check the numbers:

• Tannehill has gone 10-10 and thrown more interceptions (18) than touchdowns (17). He also has fumbled 15 times, losing seven.

• Henne, meanwhile, went 11-9 early in his Dolphins career, throwing 20 touchdowns and 20 picks in that span.

As for Flacco, his stats are a not completely comparable because he appeared in three playoff games as a rookie. But through 20 regular-season games, the Ravens quarterback went 14-6, with 22 touchdowns to just 15 interceptions.

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That’s why the stakes are so high for Tannehill this year. Quarterbacks are expected to struggle as rookies, and show improvement as sophomores.

Tannehill certainly has done that, with both his completion percentage and quarterback rating improved this year.

But Flacco said Wednesday that stats alone are not a good gauge of a young quarterback.

He explained: “When you get back into the film room, is he making the right decisions? Is he going to the right places with the football? Is he getting the offense into the right plays? If he’s doing those things, then I’d say they have to feel really comfortable with where their progression is and where they’re headed.”

To all of those questions, Joe Philbin responded yes on Wednesday. Not even Aaron Rodgers, who he coached in Green Bay, has been completely mistake-free, he inferred.

But Tannehill makes the right reads and throws “95 percent of the time,” Philbin said.

“If you study quarterbacks over time, there’s going to be days when you’re not as productive as you’d like them to be,” Philbin added. “That was certainly the case on Monday night.

He has improved in almost every category from last year and that's what we want to see. 3 picks in a game when the D knew we were throwing happens, it's not like he's throwing a pick a game and killing us. He's actually winning in the 4th and that's what counts. He's still very young and he's making plays, that what counts.

Are the critics forgetting what kind of offensive line he's throwing behind? He has the 3rd best release time and he STILL has an O-line that leads the league in sacks.. Its a pretty simple concept no matter who your QB is.. Bad offensive line and more pressure from the defense equals bad decisions and turnovers! Brady and Rodgers make plenty of boneheaded moves under pressure but you can bet their o-line isn't half as bad as ours! Tannehill deserves a lot more slack considering this atrocious line.